German stage director-producer Erwin Piscator, for whom Bertolt Brecht wrote, made only one film, the Soviet Vosstaniye rybakov, based on a novella by Anna Seghers. When Hitler became Germany’s chancellor in 1933, Piscator, rather than returning home, remained in the Soviet Union even after filming was complete; but Piscator, who despised Stalin, immigrated to the […]
Daily Archives: March 22, 2009
There aren’t many Billy Wilder films I do not like; but what can one do with Agatha Christie? The convoluted plot, with its surprise ending (oh, so that’s what’s been going on!), chugs from contrivance to contrivance. Moreover, and most damning, perhaps, Marlene Dietrich, who had given one of her best performances in Wilder’s A […]
It was a time of innocence. There were music and sound effects, but the absence of speech—dialogue—gives Walt Disney’s The Barn Dance the muteness of a dream. The use of black and white deepens this impression. In particular, this remarkable little film* is Mickey Mouse’s anxiety dream. Pete and Mickey are locked into romantic rivalry. […]
Dennis Grunes 